Cisco mulls buying Nokia?

["Fergie (Paul Ferguson)" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't really
April 1st....

A Reuters newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

[snip]

Cisco Systems Inc. is considering buying the world's top mobile handset maker Nokia in a bid to gain its wireless 
infrastructure technology, the Business newspaper reported on Sunday.

The paper, which did not reveal the source of its information, said U.S.-based Cisco had traditionally concentrated on 
acquisitions of niche technology players, but its Chief Executive John Chambers is believed to be interested in merging 
with a wireless infrastructure company.

"Nokia has been identified as the most likely target," the paper said.

Cisco, the largest maker of Internet equipment, is worth around $123 billion, while Nokia's market value is around $71 
billion.

The paper said Cisco's mainstay networking market was fast changing with the convergence of fixed-line and wireless 
networks, and Cisco needed a merger to acquire the technology to create intelligent wireless applications, which 
Finnish-based Nokia could provide.

Cisco was not immediately available for comment. A Nokia spokeswoman in Helsinki declined to comment.

[snip]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050807/bs_nm/telecoms_cisco_nokia_dc

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/